Would You Spay Sparky to Live in the Lap of Lower East Side Luxury?

It is well-known by now that rental incentives have all but disappeared from the city’s apartment buildings. But how do you know that the post-Lehman doldrums are really over and the rental market is back to “normal?” When landlords start asking for crazy concessions again.

Consider the Ludlow, the 23-story rental tower located across the street from Katz’s. As The Times reports in its always-revealing Appraisal column this week, the building’s owner is requiring all tenants to have their pets spayed or neutered. And not just because it keeps the pets from doing their business inside the building.

“We just wanted to emphasize the pet overpopulation problem,” [Archie Gottesman, CEO of Edison Properties] said. “It may not save the entire population. But it may have more of an effect.”

But, hey, the tenants don’t seem to mind, and since so many buildings refuse to allow pet owners in at all, it sure could be worse.